By Dr Sanjib Kumar Karmee
Agriculture continues to be the backbone of India’s economy, providing livelihood to around 70% of rural population. Today, the agricultural sector stands at a critical crossroads. On one hand, the country is facing soil degradation, declining fertility, and mounting pressure on groundwater resources. On the other hand, millions of tonnes of crop residues are burnt annually, adding to severe air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and irreversible nutrient loss. Between these overlapping crises lies a largely underexplored yet promising solution – the application of torrefied biomass (biotorr) as a new soil amendment. Torrefaction is essentially a mild thermochemical pre-treatment process. It involves heating of biomass at around 200–300°C within a low-oxygen environment, producing a carbon-rich, hydrophobic, and energy-dense material called biotorr. Although biotorr has received attention as a renewable fuel substitute, its value as a soil amendment is only now being recognised. For a country like India, which is struggling to restore soil productivity while managing agricultural waste sustainably, this technology presents an excellent opportunity. India’s scientific ecosystem has already invested heavily in understanding biochar. Biochar, produced at higher temperatures, is widely known for enhancing soil fertility and enabling carbon sequestration. Biotorr, however, offers a complementary set of advantages, namely, lower production costs, easier pelletisation, and suitability for decentralised rural systems. As a partially carbonised material that retains some volatile compounds, it improves soil organic carbon without significantly altering pH or nutrient balance.
Importantly, biotorr decomposes slowly as compared to raw biomass, allowing soil carbon to persist longer. In a country where soil organic carbon levels have declined to alarming lows across many states, restoring carbon is essential for sustaining agricultural productivity. The benefits of biotorr extend beyond carbon enrichment. It is now known that biotorr can improve soil structure, enhance moisture retention, and support beneficial microbial activity. These effects are particularly valuable in semi-arid and drought-prone regions, where soils often suffer from crusting, erosion, and rapid nutrient leaching. As climate change makes rainfall increasingly erratic, strengthening the soil’s water-holding capacity is essential for crop resilience. Unlike chemical fertilizers, which supply only nutrients, but do little to improve soil physical properties, biotorr helps rebuild the complete soil matrix. When used alongside compost or other organic manures, biotorr can reduce chemical fertiliser dependence as well as cutting input costs for small farm holders while promoting ecological sustainability. Air pollution has long been a persistent challenge for India, so severe that Delhi’s iconic Red Fort often appears blackened, a visible marker of a deepening public-health crisis. According to IQAir, pollution levels in the capital routinely reach hazardous levels, consistently placing Delhi at the top of global rankings for poor air quality. Against this backdrop, the recurring issue of stubble burning in northern India further highlights the urgent need for effective technological interventions. According to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), nearly 14 million tonnes of rice stubble are burned in India each year. Despite subsidies, enforcement efforts, and machinery deployment, residue burning continues largely as existing technical solutions are either too expensive or impractical for mass field deployments. In this regard, tor refaction offers a more decentralised and farmer-friendly alternative. Small and mobile village-scale torrefaction units can process paddy straw, sugar cane trash, cotton stalks, and other agro-residues into torrefied pellets, which farmers can then apply back to their fields or sell it for additional revenue generation. This not only reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; but also creates a circular nutrient economy. Instead of destroying biomass, farmers convert waste into a resource that enhances soil health. For regions such as Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Maharashtra, this approach could transform what is currently an environmental liability into an agronomic asset. Despite its promising properties, biotorr is largely missing from mainstream agricultural discourse. Several challenges hinder its adoption, such as, low awareness among farmers, limited understanding among policymakers, absence of standard guidelines, insufficient R&D on region-specific feed stocks and field trials, and lack of a supporting market ecosystem. Without well-coordinated policy support, private-sector engagement, and scientific validation, the technology will remain confined to research circles rather than reaching the farmers who need it most. India cannot afford to address soil degradation and crop residue burning as isolated problems.
Biotorr effectively bridges the two, offering a scalable, climate-friendly, and economically viable solution. It enriches soils, promotes sustainable farming, reduces air pollution, and strengthens rural livelihoods. To unlock its full potential, biotorr must be integrated into national missions such as the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and ongoing crop residue management programmes. Equally important is the involvement of private enterprises, startups, and self-help groups to build a robust value chain around production, distribution, and field implementation. With the right policy push and market incentives, India can transform the challenge of stubble burning into a pathway for agricultural renewal.
The writer is a scientist.
